It is hard to imagine a more innocuous statement. David Nish, the chief executive of Standard Life, was merely pointing out that the Scottish independence vote raised a number of issues – such as, you know, what currency and financial regulatory regime the newly minted country might use.

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He added that the Edinburgh-based investment provider had begun to set up additional registered companies in England to which it could transfer part of its operations “if it was necessary to do so”. All thoroughly sensible.

Cue acres of media coverage about Standard Life threatening to quit Scotland, both sides of the campaign claiming the company’s plans proved the validity of their arguments and the most strident nationalists offering to help Standard Life pack.

But you don’t need to be pro or anti-independence to see that the referendum is creating uncertainty. Nor do you have to be a scaremonger to note that the financial industry isn’t overly keen on not knowing stuff. Here are the main questions to which there are currently no answers:

1 When will the financial sector know what the future holds?

No one knows. The obvious answer would be September 19 – the day after the referendum. But that’s not wholly true. The political process has been structured such that many of the most important questions cannot be answered until after the vote, as that is when, should there be a “yes” vote, the newly independent Scotland will start negotiations with what’s left of the UK, the European Union and various other authorities. What’s more, during that negotiation period there will be a UK general election, a Scottish parliamentary election and, possibly, a UK referendum on EU membership. So we don’t even know who will be conducting the negotiations.

2 What currency would an independent Scotland use?

No one knows. There are four main options: sterling as part of a monetary union with the rest of the UK, sterling without such a union (often referred to as “dollarisation”), the euro or a brand new Scottish currency. The last three are not being considered by the pro-independence camp, which is adamant that it will be able to negotiate a monetary union with the UK. The pro-union camp is equally adamant that won’t happen. This is not just an issue of currency risk. With no monetary union, Scotland would have no central bank and the Scottish financial industry would have no lender of last resort.

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No one knows. The balance of probability suggests it would end up becoming a member – but on what terms? For one thing, countries that apply to join the EU sign up, at least in principle, to eventually joining the euro. For another, EU rules require member states to have their own central banks. It is hard to see how either of these conditions is compatible with a commitment to start negotiations with the UK on a currency union. Perhaps Scotland will, like the UK and Denmark, be able to gain an opt-out from Economic and Monetary Union. Equally, perhaps not.

4 What will financial regulation look like?

No one knows. A separate state would clearly need its own regulatory framework and that would involve additional cost and complexity for the industry. But how much is unknowable. The Scottish government’s white paper on independence said it would continue to defer to the Bank of England on macro-prudential matters. But that is predicated on sterling monetary union. It also said that Scotland would set up its own financial regulator, which would work “alongside the equivalent UK authority on a consistent and harmonised basis”. This raises the spectre of dual accountability.

5 How long from a “yes” vote to a new state?

No one knows. The Scottish government has said negotiations with the UK and the EU will take 18 months. However, many of the issues that need to be decided appear to be at odds with each other, if not mutually exclusive. It would surely take a modern-day Talleyrand to steer Scotland to a monetary union with the UK and membership of the EU in a year and a half, as is the Scottish government’s stated aim.

6 How would financial firms based in Scotland be affected?

No one knows. By their own accounts, Standard Life and the Royal Bank of Scotland, which reported their annual results last month, are grappling with the uncertainty. RBS was reasonably confident that “a vote in favour of Scottish independence would be likely to significantly impact the group’s credit ratings”.

Why? Because Scottish banks, whose balance sheets are so large compared to the local economy, would have to borrow from abroad to finance their operations. Those foreign creditors are liable to charge a much higher rate of interest to any bank that lost access (or was perceived as likely to lose access) to its lender of last resort, the Bank of England.

7 Would financial companies leave after independence?

No one knows. Those funding issues might force the banks out. But the general exodus of financial firms predicted by the unionist camp has probably been overstated. Many international firms with operations in Scotland are effectively “placeless”. There is no reason, for example, that Standard Life would have to move its entire Scottish operations south of the border. Edinburgh and Glasgow will remain very pleasant cities in which to do business.

But many Scottish firms may conclude they need to move their headquarters into the same jurisdiction as the majority of their customers (90% of Standard Life’s UK customers live outside Scotland). If enough firms move at least some functions to England or Wales then there is likely to be a gradual migration at the very least.

8 Will this hurt the Scottish economy?

No one knows. On the one hand, the financial services industry accounts for 8% of Scottish gross domestic product, generates roughly £8 billion for the Scottish economy and is directly and indirectly responsible for 200,000 jobs, according to Scottish Financial Enterprise. If any part of that industry migrates south, it will dent the Scottish coffers. On the other hand, the Scottish financial industry is probably too big to be supported by an independent country – its total assets are equal to 12.5 times GDP, compared with an average of 3.5 times across the EU, according to Standard & Poor’s – so a (gradual) rebalancing of the economy could be a positive.

9 How much will a split cost the Scottish financial industry?

No one knows. The Scottish government has not conducted a cost analysis of setting up a new currency, a new central bank and a new financial regulatory framework. It believes that it will share all these things with the rest of the UK. If that is true, the cost will be reasonably manageable. If not, it won’t.

10 Will any of this influence the referendum?

No. Despite the furore generated by Standard Life’s announcement, the Scottish independence referendum is not principally about finance, commerce or economics. It is about identity, passion and a sense of belonging.

All the country’s banks, asset managers, insurers and pension providers can do is remain sitting atop a very high fence, plan for the possibility of ending up on either side and treat anyone who claims to have answers to the above questions with a dose of healthy scepticism.